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Is There in Truth No Beauty? (episode)
A beautiful woman escorts an alien ambassador so hideously ugly that the sight of him can drive a human mad. Summary The ''Enterprise'' is assigned to transport the Medusan ambassador Kollos back to its homeworld. Brilliant navigators with unique mental abilities, the Medusans are so different physically that Humans go mad at the sight of them. Vulcans however, can view them by wearing a protective visor. The ambassador (in a protective box) beams aboard along with Dr. Miranda Jones and Larry Marvick, one of the designers of the Enterprise's engines. Jones is a telepath who studied on Vulcan to learn (among other things) the ability to shut out the thoughts and emotions of others. She claims to be able to look upon the Medusans with no ill effects as a result of her Vulcan training. Her mission (which Spock turned down) is to attempt to establish a mind link with the Medusans as a preliminary step toward Medusans becoming navigators on starships. Marvick's part will be to adapt instrumentation to meet the needs of those navigators. Marvick loves Jones and pleads with her not to go with Kollos, but she rejects him. Marvick then tries to kill Kollos, but looks upon him during the attempt. He goes mad, and taking control of the ship, sends it beyond the galactic barrier. Unable to cope with his mental ordeal Marvick dies. The Enterprise is now stranded in an uncharted void with no known points of reference by which to return to normal space. It is thought that Kollos with his superior navigational abilities can get the ship home, however in order for the attempt to take place Spock must mind meld with Kollos so that Kollos can provide the navigational skill while Spock physically pilots the ship. Jones objects, insisting that she is better trained to link with a Medusan, but Dr. McCoy has surmised her secret and reveals that she is blind and therefore unable to pilot a starship. Jones admits that she hides her blindness because she hates the pity of others. She has been using a sensor web worn over her clothes to feign sight. She is jealous of what she perceives as Spock's superior mind meld capabilities and his ability to physically look upon Kollos. Spock's link with Kollos and the return to normal space are both successful, but when the time comes to break the link, Spock forgets the visor. He too goes mad and may die as a result. Jones, with her Vulcan training may be able to repair Spock's damaged mind, but she is reluctant to do so. Kirk confronts her with her jealousy and accuses her of not wanting Spock to recover. She successfully melds with and heals Spock and gains her desired ability to link with Kollos in the process. Log Entries *''Captain's log, stardate 5630.7. We have been assigned to convey the Medusans' ambassador to the Federation back to their home planet. While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite. They have evolved into a race of beings who are formless, so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan brings total madness to any human who sees one. '' *''Captain’s log, stardate 5630.8. As a result of Larry Marvick's insane fears, the Enterprise lies derelict in uncharted space. We have no way to determine our position in relation to the galaxy. We are in a completely unknown void. '' *''Captain’s log, supplementary. Our one chance to return to our own galaxy is dependant upon the navigational skills of the Medusan ambassador. With that end in view, Kollos has been brought to the bridge and placed behind a protective shield.'' Memorable Quotes "Don't love her! Don't love her! She'll kill you if you love her... I love you, Miranda." : - Larry Marvick "Yes, you know your rival, don't you? You couldn't keep him from making a mind-link with Kollos – something that you couldn't do yourself! ... With my words, I'll make you ''hear such ugliness, that Spock saw when he looked at Kollos with his naked eyes – the ugliness is within you!... Your passion to see Kollos is madness. You can never see! Never! But Spock saw Kollos, and for that he must die? Mental hatred! The stench of jealousy permeates you! Why don't you strangle him while he lies there? Kollos knows what's in your heart! You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to Kollos." : - '''Kirk', rebuking Miranda in Sickbay over a dying Spock "And Uhura, whose name means freedom. 'She walks in beauty, like the night'." "That's not Spock." "Are you surprised that I've read Byron, Doctor?" "That's'' Spock!" : - '''Spock/Kollos' and McCoy "This thing you call language, though...most remarkable. You depend on it for so very much, but is any one of you really its master?" : - Spock/Kollos Background Information * The Vulcan IDIC was inserted into the script and into the episode at the behest of Gene Roddenberry, who wanted to sell the prop as an item at his Lincoln Enterprises. Nimoy, Shatner, and others were outraged at this, but the IDIC symbol was used under protest anyway. * Ralph Senensky's excellent direction includes extensive use of wide-angle lenses to capture the madness of Spock and Marvick in bizarre ways. * George Duning again contributes an excellent musical score. Use of a weird-sounding organ accentuates the strange nature of Kollos. * Leonard Nimoy was able to portray other beings on numerous occasions through mind melds, but his performance here is really amazing, imparting Kollos' childlike wonderment at the senses of humanoids, our communication medium, and our separateness from one another, as well as his disappointment at having to dissolve the link so soon. * The dining room has pictures of exotic planets on its walls. These will show up in Kirk's quarters in other third-season episodes. According to the Star Trek 30th anniversary book, Mike Minor painted these scenes. * At the end of the dining room scene, Kirk drinks the last of his glass of brandy only to have it half full again seconds later. * The arboretum is a re-dress of the recreation room, seen only in "And the Children Shall Lead". Actually, it's generally "assumed" that this is the arboretum. On entering, Kirk says, "I may be sentimental, but this is my favorite place: Earth" – possibly indicating that this is Roddenberry's half-hearted attempt at introducing a "holography area," for which he had plans during the third season. * Matt Jefferies designed the box that held Ambassador Kollos. * In a precursor to La Forge's VISOR in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miranda Jones wears a "highly sophisticated" sensor web to gather information about her surroundings and disguise her blindness. * Larry Marvick was one of the designers of the Enterprise. Scotty's joy at meeting one of his ship's creators leads him to hand the controls over to Marvick during his madness. * This episode has many complexities that leave the viewer thinking long afterward. What did Marvick mean when he said Miranda had "brought it" with her to engineering? Did Miranda purposely make Spock forget the visor? Why did she say that healing Spock meant life or death for both of them? Each viewer can interpret these incidents in their own way. * Shots of the Enterprise in the galactic void and barrier are partially new shots and partially recycled from "Where No Man Has Gone Before". * After Kirk confronts Dr. Jones in sickbay, watch Diana Muldaur trying to keep from laughing by biting her lip. 's last watch]] * This was Eddie Paskey's last appearance in the series. He suffered a back injury on the bridge during the fight with Spock/Kollos and this, combined with the cluster headaches he had begun suffering because of the bright lights on the set, led to his departure. * Coincidentally, when David Frankham guested on The Outer Limits, in the episode "Do Not Open Till Doomsday", his character was also the victim of an alien hidden in a box which did its damage when looked upon. * A crewmember in a corridor appears to be chewing gum. * This is the last appearance of antigravs in the series. * An extremely insightful portion of this episode establishes the fact that, since telepathy is a two-way street, telepaths must train themselves to shut out the random thoughts and emotions of others that bombard them every day. * There are several tie-ins with Shakespeare in this episode. Miranda was the name of Prospero's virginal daughter in "The Tempest". Dr. Jones wants nothing to do with men romantically, wishing only to join minds with Kollos and exile herself to his world. Spock/Kollos and Miranda also reference the play when Kollos sees Miranda for the first time through humanoid eyes: "O brave new world, That has such creatures in't." To which Miranda answers, "'Tis new to thee." (Note: Spock/Kollos says "...such creatures...", a common misquotation; the play's line is actually "...such people...") * The episode title is from a poem by the 17th century English poet and clergyman George Herbert, from his poem "Jordan (I)", line 2. The first two lines (with modernized spelling) are: Who says that fictions only and false hair/ Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty? * In this episode and "The Empath", Leonard Nimoy has some serious nasal congestion. * A scene which shows crewman listening to the intercom in a corridor is reused from "The Corbomite Maneuver". * During the fight scene in engineering, a crewman is thrown against one of the two large, gray cowlings that sit in the middle of the floor: it moves when he hits it. ]] * As the ship is being flung to the far reaches of the galaxy, there is a rare, recycled and highly unflattering visual effect of the Enterprise coming straight at camera and going over the top of the frame. This shot was first seen in the main-title sequence of "The Cage," and used again in "That Which Survives." :The original print of this visual effect from "The Cage" was cut off too soon, so the Enterprise abruptly "disappears" at the last instant instead of completely passing "through" the TV screen. This mistake was corrected for the prints used in "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" and "That Which Survives." :The visual evidence would suggest that the three-foot static model was used instead of the eleven-foot model. It is difficult to tell as the sequence was filmed with a "fish-eye" lens so as to create a sense of size. See the Star Trek Compendium. * This episode has an excellent shot of the bridge ceiling from the turbolift perspective. Several feet of masking can be seen curving up higher above the normally seen bridge soffit, suggesting the interior of the uppermost dome on the ship, last depicted as translucent in "The Cage". * At one point, Miranda says she's committed to mind-linking with Kollos when they reach the "Medusan vessel." This suggests that they'll be departing the Enterprise for another space ship. However, in the final scene, the Enterprise is seen approaching a planet, possibly the Medusan home world. * The script is confusing as to exactly where the Enterprise is trapped following Larry Marvick's madness. Marvick was seeking safety "beyond the boundaries of the galaxy," but Kirk's next log entry states that "the Enterprise lies derelict in uncharted space ... we are in a completely unknown void." Spock concurs with Marvick: "We are evidently far outside our own galaxy" and that "we cannot re-cross the barrier using sublight speed." However, the visual effects show the Enterprise trapped inside the barrier, not beyond it. Obviously, the "galactic barrier" footage from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is reused here as a cost-cutting measure, but it and the dialogue don't exactly synch up. * Another interesting carryover from the second pilot is Spock's mention of the onset of "sensory distortion" when crossing the barrier at warp speed. Obviously, between the second pilot and this episode, the Enterprise's deflector shields have improved, thus negating the barrier's tendency to "zap" persons with high ESPer capacity. But the barrier is still one-up on the Enterprise, leaving the mostly human crew hopelessly disoriented as far as navigation is concerned. * Curiously enough, however, the "sensory distortion" problem was conveniently "overlooked" during the Enterprise's second passage of the barrier in "By Any Other Name." Production Timeline * Story outline: * First draft script: . This was an unsolicted script which Robert Justman read and recommended. * Filmed in mid-July. Links and References *VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 630021365X. Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov Guest Stars * Diana Muldaur as Dr. Miranda Jones * David Frankham as Dr. Larry Marvick * Lou Elias as engineer (uncredited) * Vince Deadrick as engineer (uncredited) * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Brent (uncredited) * Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli (uncredited) References Antarean brandy; antigrav; IDIC; Kollos; Lord Byron; Medusans; mind-link; sensor web; telepathy; visor; Vulcan; Vulcans; Vulcan salute; warp drive DVD Media Information * Star Trek: The Original Series, Volume 31 (original two episode single-disc release) * ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' - The Complete Third Season (disc 2 of the set) External Links * Category:TOS episodes de:Die fremde Materie nl:Is There in Truth No Beauty?